[ladyK]

While my first lambing ever has been going well as such, it seems I have a bad run with flies immediately after lambing... 
After recently treating flystrike on 5 day old Soay twin lambs (another rambling post and lots of support from you TAS people), today I treated another strike on a ewe who had twin lambs last Friday.
I kind of noticed that something was wrong a couple of days after she lambed (only the occasional fly seen, but still something was wrong, she was hiding under a hedge most of the time, and not coming to the bucket, even after the obligatory 2 days of keeping away with her newborns) It's my most flighty ewe and as she was not coming anywhere near the bucket (she would still eat of my hand usually) so I only managed to catch her today. My hunch was right...
I have cut all the affected wool away and cleaned her up, applied lots of purple spray and Barrier Blowfly repellant (that is supposed to kill maggots too, and to soothe the wound at the same time, so far it's worked well for me). I have Crovect but really want to avoid it if I can (but considering applying a preventative dose when she's better before I let her go, as she is so hard to catch.)
While the sore is not huge it does look quite raw, and I am worried about her condition, so decided to keep her in. I don't really have a proper space for that, so I have made a bit of space in the straw store of the donkey shelter and put her in there with her lambs (I just don't feel the hurdle pen would be a safe containment for a Soay). She has hay and water, some cake and some fresh grass cuttings. Will get her some ivy and willow tomorrow.
What signs should I look out for to judge if she needs antibiotics? (again, I do try to avoid giving antibiotics 'just in case'. She is eating, though not greedily so, and feeding her lambs OK.
Anything else I can fo for her?

[EDIT to say I'm sorry for rambling every time I'm in a panic!]

[Melmarsh]

Hi, sorry to hear you are having such bad luck with flies this season. If the skin is broken and she's not long lambed then I would give antibiotics as her system is likely to be low. As far as using  a fly repellent goes, I use click or clikzin, no one likes chemical use  but I find it preferable to the fly strike . Good luck and I hope you don't have any more problems m

[Backinwellies]

Maybe worth changing your lambing time next year so you can shear earlier if flies are such a problem?

[Ladygrey]

Oh dear, I do hate it when they get struck, lambing earlyer can help or use a pour-on preventative to help avoid it in the first place, I use crovect and this year I have still got struck, when it runs out will switch to click as maybe this works better

[ladyK]

Lambing earlier is a good idea but not sure how that would apply to a primitive breed like the Soay?
The ram runs with the ewes all year - how would I get them to cycle earlier? I don't really want to get involved in hormone manipulation a like sponging...

Poor ewe looks brighter this morning, and the sores are drying up, so I hope she's recovering.
She looks quite thin though and feeding twins, anything else nutritious apart from cake I can give her?
I've been cutting fresh grass for her as she's not keen on my rather nice hay, and she lived the willow and ivy this morning.

[Ladygrey]

The shetland is also a primitive breed and likes to lamb late but as I dont keep the tup in with them they come on heat when I put him in I suppose

Last year I put the rams in for only 3 weeks with no teaser before or anything and had all (apart from one barron) lamb within the three weeks over end of march/april

Next year my easter holidays are from beginning of march to beginning of april, time will tell if the shetlands come on heat in october for me!

I am not sure how you can get them to lamb earlyer if the tup lives in all year round 

Good that your ewe is looking ok! I know mine like hazel and willow and well most trees but not sure what else to give her

[in the hills]

We've lambed for 2 years. Soay. We put the tup in, in October the first year and November the following year. They all took within 3-4 wks of his arrival.

Wonder why yours were so late.   

Were they ewe lambs or shearlings? If lambs perhaps they didn't come into season until they were that bit older and more physically mature.

We were going to lamb late next year. Our thinking was that there would be more grass, better weather, easier for us to trek down our hills to tend ewes and lambs if the ground were dry and not icy ..... I have to be a bit careful now due to a health problem. But looks like a balance will be needed as we hadn't considered increased risk of strike.

Fleecewife may think of some reasons for the late lambing.

Never penned mine for long. Not sure what else you can give.  that you can let her out soon.

[Fleecewife]

November is the natural time for Soay to run with the tup, then they lamb in April, here at least.  I find they usually lamb in the second half of the month.  I've never had any lambs as late as May, let alone June, but I don't run the tups with the ewes all year.  Some breeders who live on poorer pasture prefer to lamb in May. I for one would never use hormone sponging on Soay.

Think back to the weather last autumn, and the pasture condition, also the condition of the ewes.  You might find a possible cause of the late lambing there.  Similarly if the tup was not feeling at his best, or had an infection around his penis, he may not have been too keen initially (always worth checking his bits as part of the pre-tupping checks.

There is some evidence that Soay in particular lamb later if they originate from further north, even if they no longer live there.  Of course all Soay originally come from the St Kilda group of islands off N.Uist, and there are still many bred in the north of Scotland.  Maybe there is some effect from how far back your particular sheep's ancestors moved south.

The main way to ensure they lamb at their ideal time is not to keep the tup with them all year round.  At the least take him out from mid-summer to 1st Nov.  They will be very pleased to see each other then 

Something else I have found which tempts the appetite of unwell sheep is cow parsley, the young tender leaves.
I would also apply Sudocrem to the sores.

[ladyK]

Lots of things to consider about lambing timing, thank you all.

I got my Soays late last summer from a breeder (and sometime poster here) not far who was giving up his flock (due to land sale). 2 ewes are first timers (born in 2012), and they lambed first, the other 2 are older (9 and 6 years) - and one older ewe still hanging on. Breeder told me his flock usually lambed in mid May, so I'm not that far off.
l know there were problems with flock fertility the winter before I got them - no lambs born at all last year despite a proven registered ram. I decided to still give splendid looking Elton a chance and I'm glad I did, he's worked fine this year but maybe the break in lambing contributed to the late cycling of the ewes?
My observation at the time was that he seemed keen from early November onwards (including beating up Max the wether) but the girls didn't really show interest until much later. They all seemed well and happy enough and there was lots of grass well into early winter but my inexperienced eye may have missed something.

[Backinwellies]

Please don't use Clik on un shorn sheep .... it is being found in water courses and is a very unpleasant chemical.....(they think possibly from being washed out when tanning)  ...  apart from being very unpleasant for shearer too  (not being an expert on Soay I'm assuming they are shorn?)   

[SallyintNorth]

Please don't use Clik on un shorn sheep .... it is being found in water courses and is a very unpleasant chemical.....(they think possibly from being washed out when tanning)  ...  apart from being very unpleasant for shearer too  (not being an expert on Soay I'm assuming they are shorn?)

Also extremely dangerous for a handspinner if the fleece ends up with one.  If the spinner knows the fleece has been treated, s/he can decide whether to let it go by, or to wash it very thoroughly in very hot water with lots of soap.  If s/he doesn't know, and spins 'in the grease' (without washing with soap)... 

[shep53]

Battles Maggot Oil is effective as a mild repellent and soothes the skin .    And while it sounds odd I was told a long time ago  to apply Golden Hoof  ( zinc sulphate )  mixed with vaseline to the maggot damage and it works very well at healing .

[Hellybee]

Must add we ve got a week old pair of tiny twins, from when our old toothless' s son got in and tupped a ewe , your post had haunted me all week about your little babies getting strike so I've got her in a cool shed, surrounded by fly papers, and all is well, I'm pickin her grass and leaves several times a day plus hay, nuts and plenty of water in little buckets so the little dots don't fall in.    They are full of life but I m real scared of them getting it


Not ideal, but I ll be buggered if these little ones are going to get it!   How old before  we can put some proper spray on them, I c ant seem to find the youngest age they can get sprayed.

[Bramblecot]

You could try citronella or tea tree oils/spray as a fly deterrent.  I expect your ewe is mighty pleased with her twins and private accomodation .

[ladyK]

I have been using Barrier Blowfly Repel (a herbal concoction (with Eucalyptus, Citronella, Clove and other oils) to both treat the strike and as a repellant afterwards. It worked well to clear the maggots, and it's soothing and antiseptic on the raw skin. Seems it works well as a repellant too: I treated just the ewe when I saw some flies around after birth and her lambs got struck, on the next set of twins I treated the lambs but not the ewe as no flies seen, then the ewe got struck 
In hindsight I should have treated all ewes and lambs on the day of birth.

I did speak to the veyt at the time about using Crovect on the lambs, she told me it would be OK to use it if at least a week old. She dispensed me some of the stuff, so I got it on the ready, but I could not bring myself to put such nasty chemicals on such tiny lambs, so I stuck to the Barrier stuff.
Lambs are doing very well now   
Hope yours will be OK - I'm sure they will be if you keep such a close eye on them.